Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Petr Tomasek <tomasek AT etf.cuni.cz>]

On Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 11:06:29PM +0300, Vadim Cherny wrote:
> I've been arguing that the entire Masoretic notation relates to  
> liturgical chant and was never intended for speech (Richard Goerwitz  
> apparently expresses a similar opinion in his dissertation). In this  
> vein, we can now explain pausal elongation.

Have You read this:

  Bezalel Elan Dresher. "The Prosodic Basis of the Tiberian Hebrew System of 
Accents". Language 70 (1994). s. 1-52.  ?

Personaly, I came to the conclusion that the Masoretic "accents" were
originally an mnemonic device for learning the text by heart. Therefore
there are both, musical and prosodic features which can be observed
on the system of Hebrew ṭeʾamim.

The "liturgical chant" of a Biblical text was actually only a ritualized
form of learning/teaching towards a broader public.

P.T.

-- 
Petr Tomasek <http://www.etf.cuni.cz/~tomasek>
Jabber: butrus AT jabbim.cz

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EA 355:002  TU TU TU TU
EA 355:003  NU NU NU NU NU NU NU
EA 355:004  NA NA NA NA NA
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